Jun 23 Bassanova | バサノバ

Bassanova is a mainstay on the Tokyo ramen scene. It has been featured in magazine spreads and on local TV. A few years ago, the shop was managed by a Japanese-American friend of ours, Keizo Shimamoto. Keizo has since gone on to invent the ramen burger, be featured on "Conan," and open up his own ‘Ramen Shack’ in New York City (congrats Keizo!). Meanwhile, Bassanova still serves a damn tasty bowl (although, it does seem to have slipped just slightly since Keizo left – maybe we're biased).

Bassanova offers a wide variety of ramen and tsukemen. You can't go wrong here, but our favorite item by far is the green curry ramen. The chef takes a traditional Thai green curry made with coconut milk and blends it with a rich tonkotsu broth. Picture that for a moment… amazing. The thin noodles nicely suit the flavors of the soup, as does the tori chashu.